Budget Direct has withdrawn a TV ad after the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) found it breached rules on health and safety.

The ad shows the character Captain Risky jumping into a hot tub surrounded by electrical cords and power points.

Director of Marketing and Digital Jonathan Kerr says Budget Direct is “disappointed” with the decision but “we respect the ASB’s ruling and have chosen to withdraw the commercial concerned”.

The Captain Risky series of ads feature “highly fantastical scenarios that would be almost impossible for the general public to emulate”, he says.

Captain Risky was the most-watched YouTube ad in Australia in the first quarter of this year, with more than 1.6 million views. The character is set to appear at the Logie Awards next month.

The ASB has dismissed previous complaints about Captain Risky ads, noting “the stunts were quite outrageous” and “would not be able to be performed by most adults or children” because they involved outlandish equipment such as jetpacks.

In contrast, some homeowners have access to hot tubs, the ASB says.

The board notes concerns about “the portrayal of dangerous behaviour involving water and electricity, which if copied by children or others could lead to serious injury”.

It says there is strong public sentiment regarding the dangers of water and electricity.

Meanwhile, the ASB has dismissed complaints against an iSelect ad that shows “Mr iSelect” in Japan, speaking Japanese in a humorous way.

“The board considered the depiction of Mr iSelect speaking in different languages was not discriminatory against or vilifying of a person or section of the community from Asia or anywhere else in the world.”

The ASB has also dismissed complaints that an ad for Comparethemarket.com.au mocked Russian ethnicity and a Russian war hero.

The board’s ruling includes a response from the comparator: “The UK has a much larger Russian community than Australia and no one [there] has ever accused the commercial of being demeaning to Russians. Neither have any parallels been drawn between the fictitious meerkat-mongoose battle and the Japanese-Russian war.”